F.A.Q's

I have received several messages this week and I thought it was about time I updated my frequently asked questions page so you can find everything in one place.

Are your order books open?

Unfortunately my diary is full for 2017 so I am not taking on any more custom orders at present.

How can I get my hands on a Little Sugar Plum doll?

As well as custom orders, I also make around 10 dolls and dolly dress-up clothes each month which I sell at market nights. These cannot be personalised, but are ready to post. Ideal if you have a birthday coming up, or you just want to add to your collection. I have a designated website just for market nights. www.littlesugarplums.bigcartel.com. Market nights are held on the last Friday of every month at 9pm.

What is a Market night?

For full details, please see my previous blog post, What are Market Nights?

I really want a personalised doll. Do you have a waiting list?

Yes I do! If I ever have a cancellation, or realise I can squeeze in an extra custom order, I contact the next person in line on my waiting list. Please note that once I have emailed the person at the top of my waiting list, I will give 48 hours for that person to reply and make payment.  If I do not receive a reply to my email in that time, I will go ahead and contact the next person in line. If you receive an email and have changed your mind and no longer wish to place an order, please let me know.  I won't be offended.  My time is precious and it will speed up my admin time by not having to wait 48 hours before contacting the next person, allowing me more time to get on with other orders and spend time with my family.

To add your name to the list, please fill out the form by clicking HERE.

How much are your dolls?

The price of my dolls depends on the outfit they are wearing and how detailed he/she is. For example, a doll wearing a dress or twirly skirt will use twice the amount of fabric as a regular skirt (and will take longer to make) so will therefore cost a little bit more.  For my list of prices, please visit my website HERE.

I am looking to CE mark my dolls. Can you tell me where you buy your fabrics?

In a word, no.  I buy my fabrics from a wide variety of places and have spent many hours of my time researching them. Each fabric has to have a certificate to confirm it's safe for using in toy making and I have had to pay for many of the certificates, so I am a little protective over sharing my resources!  If you would like to find out more regarding CE certification, including purchasing EN71-3 certificates, I recommend visiting the CE Soft Toy Support Network group on Facebook.


What sewing machine do you use?

I currently use two sewing machines;  A Brother SE-400, which is the USA equivalent to the Brother Innovis 950/955, and a basic Janome 2032. The Brother is a sewing and embroidery machine. If you would like more details on the Brother, I wrote a blog post about importing mine a few years ago. The post can be found here.

Do you recommend your sewing machine?

Yes!  I love them both.  They do exactly what I need them for, so I'm more than happy to recommend them.

What app do you use to edit your photos?

I use a variety of different apps including Pic Monkey, Instagram and A Beautiful Mess.

How long are your lead times?

I usually advertise lead times at 4-5 weeks, although I aim to post orders out sooner than this where possible. As soon as you have paid the balance for your custom order in full, I then order in your fabrics.  This part is beyond my control and can take up to a week depending on the company I purchase from, especially if ordered on a friday/weekend. Most of my suppliers are pretty good and post out within a couple of days. I then need to cut out all the pattern pieces which takes a few hours, before sewing up and stuffing (another 2-3 hours).  Then her clothes need to be made and her face needs to be embroidered by hand before photographs are taken for my records (and to show you before posting) which can only be taken in good light during the day.  Every doll I make must have a declaration on conformity for CE certification, so then it's over to the laptop to write that up. Then I have to package up your doll and take her to the post office. I usually try to visit the post office on a Monday/Tuesday once I have several dolls to post at once. It's simply not feasible to  visit the post office every day.  It is quite a distance, and although I do give each order my individual attention, remember all this is happening alongside other orders also, as well as looking after my home and family. Lead times may also take slightly longer during the school holidays when my children are at home. I never rush orders and take my time to ensure they are perfect for you.

What are Market Nights?

A market night is kind of like a virtual craft fair. I run them on my designated market night website at 9pm on the last friday of each month to allow customers who may not be able to get a custom slot to purchase a ready made doll. Most items are ready to post.  If a particular product is marked as "made to order", a time frame will be given in the product description. I usually make around 10  ready made dolls as well as dress-up outfits are available for customers to purchase, so you can build on your dolly's wardrobe too!

Market nights are advertised a few weeks in advance on the Events tab at the top of my facebook page.  Please feel free to invite your friends and family to join :)  and if there's a particular item of dolly clothing, or a type of doll you are wanting to buy, hair or eye colour, etc, please post it on the event wall and I'll see what I can do!  I will post sneak peeks of the dolls that will be available on the event wall too... sort of like an exclusive access VIP room for all you market nighters!

RULES / HOW IT WORKS

MARKET NIGHTS ON BIG CARTEL 

Unlike Facebook market nights, there will be no magic word given. On the days leading up to the market night, you will be able to go over to the website and see the dolls, prices and descriptions. They will be marked as "COMING SOON" and therefore will not be able to be purchased until the market night evening.  On the night, at around 8:45pm, I will put the website in maintenance mode.This will allow me to work on the website behind the scenes, and set all the dollies as AVAILABLE. At 9pm, I will take the website out of maintenance mode and the website will go live, allowing you to add the products you want to your basket. If you're online just before 9pm, keep refreshing your page until the dolls are "live" and available to purchase. 

Since I can't schedule a post like on Facebook, I will be going by my watch which may or may not be out of sync with some of you by a few seconds. All purchases can be paid for with PayPal and all major credit/debit cards are also accepted.  PLEASE NOTE that putting things in your basket DOES NOT make them 'safe'. Someone else can still buy them, so be sure to check out quick!

POSTAGE & PACKING

Ready made dolls will usually be posted out in the next 2-3 business days providing payment has been completed. The cost of postage by Royal Mail recorded delivery is £4.95 (within the UK).  If you prefer to use Royal mail's special delivery service this costs £8.00. This service will be charged if purchasing two or more dolls for maximum insurance.  Please let me know when you send me your email address before I send your invoice if this method is preferred. If you are outside of the UK, please also inform me of your location when sending your email address so that I can adjust the postage charge. A quote will be obtained from the Royal Mail website. Postage for smaller items such as dolls clothing costs £1.95 and will combined for two or more items. If you are not happy with the prices I charge for postage then please do not purchase. P&P is more than a price of the stamp... It's my mailing envelopes, cellowrap, printer ink for labels, care instructions, etc plus fuel to the post office and back. You are welcome to collect if you're local to Northampton - NN1).

If you're new to my market nights this probably sounds very daunting but they are super exciting and very popular with my customers. Good luck and Happy shopping!

2017 MARKET NIGHTS

This years market nights are scheduled for the following dates:

27th January

24th February

31st March

28th April

26th May

30th June

28th July

25th August

22nd September - BIG ELF MARKET NIGHT

27th October

24th November

15th December (TO BE CONFIRMED)

FACEBOOK MARKET NIGHTS

It is rare now that I will do a market night on Facebook, as the admin side takes ten times longer. But I will leave this here just in case.  A few customers prefer this method, but most prefer the website avenue.

First of all you will go over to my Facebook page. I will post a 'secret word' on my timeline at the advertised time.  This is usually around 9pm when the kiddie winks are all tucked up in bed sound asleep so you can shop in the comfort of your living room with no distractions!  After I have made the announcement, the first person to comment with the secret word under a photo will win that item.  Any  comments posted before I have made the announcement will be deleted. This includes edited posts.  I always set a scheduled post so that it runs on Facebook time to avoid any disagreements regarding time.

If two or more comments are submitted at the same time on the same item, the winning buyer will be the person who's comment notification comes through to me first. These are emailed to me and will have the time on them. The final decision of the purchaser will be determined by Little Sugar Plums and the decision is final.

An email address must be PMed to complete the transaction straight away along with your postal address.

Once the market night has calmed down (you will be surprised how incredibly busy it gets my end with PM's and comments flying here there and everywhere!), I will send out invoices.  Payments MUST be made on the night. If the invoice is not paid within 24 hours of the market night (unless agreed with me prior to the market night), I reserve the right to offer the doll to the next comment. Invoices are usually sent out within 1 hour (by 10pm), but please bear with me if it takes longer. I am only one person! :)

PLEASE NOTE:

I DO NOT take responsibility for your news feeds not showing you my posts. If you really want to purchase something from my market night then I suggest following the steps below to maximise your chances of getting the doll you want. I will not accept rudeness on my page from people when they don't get the doll they want. Anybody who does so will be promptly blocked from my page.

1) Use a PC or laptop to access my Facebook page rather than a mobile device. They're far more reliable. But have your mobile next to you too.

2) Sign up for notifications. Just hover your mouse over the 'LIKE' button on my page and select "Get Notifications" and "see first". When I post the secret word, this should come through to all of your devices straight away.

3) Pick out the item(s) you want to buy from my preview album and keep it up on your screen in the minutes leading up to the start time. As soon as the notification comes through to your phone, you'll be ready to type the secret word in on your PC. Hit enter and then refresh your screen to see if you're the first to comment. If you are, congratulations! You've won! Please send me your email address as soon as possible so I can send your invoice over. This must be done ASAP.

Please ensure the address registered on your Paypal account is correct as this will be the address I will be posting you doll(s) to.

Happy New Year!

It's been sooooo long since I wrote a blog post!  I know I say it every year, but I really am determined to post more regularly this year!  Last year was manic with orders and I'm determined to keep my head above water this year and throw myself into my work and grow as a business in 2017.  I have lots of exciting things planned for this year and hope that you will follow me along the way.

I'll start by saying Happy 2017! I know, I know, we're already two weeks in. It's been so hectic here at LSP HQ and I haven't been able to start back as quickly as I wanted to as Amelia was only at school two days last week, and the weekend just passed,  I had planned to work through, but this was scuppered when I went up to Bolton for the weekend for a family party. But now I am back and happy to be sewing up some absolutely beautiful custom dollies.  My customers have wonderful taste in fabrics!  I also managed to give my sewing room a big clean and put up some new pictures on the wall; One of which I was very lucky to receive from Emma Vallis over at My Tiny Gallery as part of the Secret Santa I took part in with the wonderful ladies of Sparkle Showcases over Christmas.

My first Little Sugar Plum of 2017 was this gorgeous Melody Mermaid.  I haven't made any mermaids for a while, and this one caught the attention of lots of you over on my Facebook page and I have received lots of requests for them, so I will be adding a few to my market night on 27th January (put the date in your diaries ladies!)

This was made for a gorgeous little girl's 2nd Birthday and is her third Little Sugar Plum doll.  

I think she likes her!

I'll be back soon to show you some more pretties.

Wishing you a healthy, prosperous new year.

Aimie. x